MAX Whitlock has made it through to the men's pommel final at the European Championships in Glasgow.

The double Olympic champion made a series of small mistakes to place third with a score of 14.9, behind Rhys McClenaghan who led on 15.266, and also Russia's David Belyavskiy.

Whitlock, who failed to reach the floor final after placing a lowly 23rd, must now raise his level in Sunday's final in order to avoid a second straight defeat to the 19-year-old, who eclipsed him at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Whitlock said: "It was a fight to do my pommel routine today but I'm happy with my performance.

"I just need to clean it up a bit more but I'm happy with my score for that routine, so hopefully I can make that jump up on Sunday."

McClenaghan had set the standard during the earlier afternoon qualifying session, his score beating the 15.1 which had proved enough to beat Whitlock in Australia.

"It wasn't a perfect routine by any means but it was a very solid one and one I'm very happy with," said McClenaghan.

"That's my highest score and it shows I'm up there in contention again. I'm sure Max will go out there and do his job but getting a European gold medal has been a dream.

"It's incredible for me because I remember watching the European finals since I was eight years old and now I'm actually in the final. It's incredible to think I'll be competing against the likes of Max and David."

Great Britain qualified in second place for Saturday's team final behind Russia, while each member of the five-strong squad all qualified for at least one of the individual apparatus finals.

Courtney Tulloch placed second on the rings just 0.033 behind Greece's reigning world and Olympic champion Eleftherios Petrounias, and will hope to bridge that gap for the first time in the final.

"I don't think I've ever beaten him but I'm getting closer and I really feel like I belong in this company now," said Tulloch.

"It's taken me a long time to get to this point but I can't wait to go with the team again on Saturday."

Dominick Cunningham qualified for the floor final, Joe Fraser made the top eight in parallel bars and high bar, and James Hall - the silver medallist in Cluj last year - will also contest the high bar.